Late, Cold, End
by Shadow38383
Summary: So class 2-C is going to take a ski trip, not to mention that Eri and Harima are forcibly paired up, and Harima has no problem with it, and to make things weirder, something massive takes them by surprise at their destination...what else could that spell? ...not my best summery. T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm sorry if the ending kind of sucks, I had this story pop up then the worry of whether or not I would finish the next chapter of 'Silence Broken' in time to upload them before my new college semester started...I did. If you're reading this, enjoy!**

"Alright, listen up!" Itoko shouted over the loud students, "As it turns out, we had a little money left over to send a class on a field trip...and it just so happens that 2-C won a secret raffle we held." The student's cheered so suddenly, that it startled Itoko.

"DAY OFF! WHOO!" one of the students cheered.

"Where're we going?" another asked.

"Can we wear whatever we want?" another asked.

"SILENCE!" Itoko snapped and the students obeyed, "Now, we're going to be headed up to the mountains for a weekend ski trip. Don't ask me how an idea like that got in ther-..." The students looked at her, confused, "Ok, we raffled what the field trip would be too, and I'm pretty sure none of us put that in there..."

"Hey, hey, hey," Tenma whispered to Mikoto, "it was me."

"What? How?" Mikoto asked.

"I made a really small paper airplane and landed it in the raffle bag." Tenma replied.

"I suspect it was one of you," Itoko continued, "because there were various small paper airplanes with various ideas that we wouldn't go for in a million years." Tenma looked like she tripped and hit her head on her desk. "So anyway, instead of letting you pick your own friend to watch your back, we'll be assigning your partner for you." The class erupted in an uproar, protesting the freedom to choose their friends for partners. "ENOUGH!" Itoko snapped and the room fell silent, "Now, the first of the condemned will be..." Itoko looked at a paper on her desk which read only two names, "Sawachika Eri,"

"Huh?" Eri asked as she began to pay attention.

"and...Harima Kenji." Itoko finished.

"What?" Harima asked, half asleep.

"Ok, everyone else, go ahead and choose." Itoko added before she turned to make her way out of the room.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Eri shouted, "WHY THE HELL DO I GET STUCK WITH HIM!?"

"What's going on?" Harima asked.

"There was concern, brought up by the fact of a previous trip in which Harima got on the wrong bus." Itoko replied, "We decided he needed someone to watch out for him, someone responsible, and your name was the first thrown out."

"B-b-but I'm not responsible!" Eri replied desperately, "I forget things! I lose things! I'd definitely lose him in a crowd!"

"Sorry, what's done is done." Itoko replied before leaving and laughing mentally, 'Sorry Eri, but it's to teach Harima a lesson. When he realizes what's going on, he'll freak! That'll teach him to make a spare key without my permission...thought I would forget, huh Harima?'

"WAKE UP!" Eri shouted as she beat Harima with a magazine that another student was reading, "WEREN'T YOU PAYING ATTENTION!?"

"Ah! AHH! Stop that! What did I do!?" Harima asked.

"WE'VE BEEN PARTNERED UP FOR THE FIELD TRIP!" Eri shouted at him.

"What's so bad about that?" Harima asked, shocking her stiff.

"Wha-?"

"I know we're not on the same page most of the time, but it's not the end of the world." Harima replied.

"Uhh...yeah...sure." Eri replied before Harima put his head down again. 'Something's not right.' she thought to herself as she returned to her seat before looking back at Harima's sleeping form with confusion, 'I wonder if it has anything to do with Tenma and Karasuma becoming an item?'

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The bus ride was more than awkward for the first ten minutes, Eri kept fidgeting nervously and Harima looked out the window before pulling out a stack of papers and a pen to continue his manga. Eri thought he had given up on that since Tenma was with Karasuma and was tempted to ask, but decided against it thinking it might make things worse than they are now. She tried to avoid looking at it, though it didn't take long for her to turn her attention to his work (not that there was much else to do), before noticing something interesting.

"Hey, that new character of yours looks kind of like me." she commented.

"Really?" Harima asked, "I didn't notice, she just kind of came up. Though her personality is really something; mean, kinda self-absorbed...basically kind of like a snotty rich girl..."

'Why that little-!' Eri thought before Harima continued.

"But she's really the poorest of them and deep inside, she's really a nice girl." he explained, "She can really put her foot in her mouth a lot, but always finds a way to make up for it...even if she kind of u-turns to the initial starting point of the predicament sometimes, but that mostly happens in a light hearted situation...like something you know you'd be laughing about later. She's cute like that, not over the top, but not heartless either."

'That Harima, he's going to make me blush.' Eri thought, "So...do you mind if I ask how she goes into the story?"

"She and the main guy actually develop feelings for each other," Harima explained, "but the guy's really clueless most of the time." Eri looked at him with a confused face.

'Is he just explaining, or confessing!?' she thought before the bus came to a sudden stop and caused her to slam her head on the seat ahead of her.

"Whoa, you ok Ojou?" Harima asked.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow...y-yeah, I'm fine." Eri replied.

"Alright, break stop!" Itoko shouted from the front of the bus, "You've ten minutes!" She looked over to Harima and Eri, only to be disappointed at the fact that Harima had not lost it since she forced Eri to be his partner, 'Oh well, I'll find another way to get back at him.' Eri took advantage of this opportunity to go to the bathroom and talk to her friends.

"Hey guys." she greeted.

"Hey Eri." Mikoto and Tenma replied.

"Huh? Hey, where's Akira?" Eri asked.

"Boo." A monotone voice replied from behind her, yet next to her ear, and made her jump.

"Akira!" Eri shouted as she tried to catch her breath and her friends laughed.

"That was a good one Akria." Mikoto complimented, "So anyways, how's it going with Harima, Eri?"

"Huh? Oh, uh...well you know, boring." Eri replied.

"Uhhh-huh...so you waiting to tell him, or for him to tell you?" Mikoto asked.

"What!?" Eri shouted, "I-I mean, about what? heheh."

"Oh come on, Harima's given up on...'her', that's a sure thing, so here's your chance." Mikoto replied.

"Yeah, Eri." Tenma chimed in, "The beautiful rich girl and the tough bad boy, not to mention that you usually fight with him...you two would be like two main characters of a romance manga!"

"NO WAY!" Eri snapped.

"Don't deny it." Tenma teased before heading for the door, "I'm going to head back now, let me know if you want me to give you a hand Eri." Eri shuddered.

"That's the last thing I want to do." she replied and Mikoto laughed.

"Still, she's right." Mikoto added, "You really should try and make a move soon, I've heard you've got competition."

"Yeah right." Eri replied, "There's no way I would want to make a move on Harima...and who in their right mind would want to be with him?"

"Yakumo." Akira replied.

"What?" Mikoto asked, "You serious? I was just bluffing!"

"But I'm not." Akira replied.

"How would you know?" Eri replied.

"I know a lot." Akira replied, "I even know how her working with him as his assistant has let her get to know him personally to the point that she's fallen for him. You both have the same goal, because you both wanted the same thing, to find the right guy."

"You couldn't be more wrong." Eri replied as she headed out the door.

"So Yakumo can have him?" Akira asked.

"I DIDN'T SAY THAT!" Eri snapped, "I-I mean...what I meant to say...grr, forget it!" Eri shoved the door out of the way and stomped out of the washroom as Mikoto laughed so hard that she fell on the ground. "The nerve of those two, butting into something like this." Eri grumbled to herself as she made a b-line for the bus before she heard someone shout her name and the next thing she knew, she was in the air. She hit the ground and rolled twice from her momentum before looking up to see a car in her original spot and a familiar body a short distance ahead of the car. "Harima!?"

"Oof...hey why don't you watch where you're going!?" Harima shouted to the car driver before going over to Eri, "You ok?"

"Y-y-yeah, b-but...what are you doing here?" Eri asked.

"Saving your life by the looks of it." Harima laughed, "I was on my way to find you when I saw that car turn the corner. The bus is about to leave, come on."

"Wait, what about you?" Eri asked.

"What do you mean?" Harima asked.

"You just got hit by a car!" Eri exclaimed.

"I've taken worse, I'll be fine." Harima replied, "Now let's go before we get left behind." Eri followed Harima, but she kept an eye out for any sign that he was hurt.

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'Maybe I should have gone to the hospital or something,' Harima thought to himself, 'I do feel kind of sore...no that's not the reason. I just don't want to see Tenma and Karasuma together...' They had been on the road for at least thirty minutes and Harima had made a little progress on his manga, while Eri had fallen asleep after watching him work for a while. Harima looked out the window for a few minutes before he felt something land on his shoulder. He looked over to see that it was Eri who fell over and landed on his shoulder, stirring in her sleep before she fell back into her slumber. 'I probably shouldn't bother her.' He turned his attention back to his comic and continued to draw, finding that Eri was right about how his new character looked like her, 'I wonder if there's a chance...wait...' Harima quickly pulled out a fresh page and began to draw as quickly and carefully as he could while looking back at Eri then turning back to his page.

"No, no, no..." Eri mumbled after a few minutes, "I wanted green tea...now go back and get me what I asked for, Harima..."

'WHAAAT!?' Harima screamed in his head before the bus stopped and woke her up.

"Alright, we're here!" Itoko called out, "Everything's set, so go to your rooms first and make your choice arrangements for the beds and well...have fun." The bus erupted in cheers as students tried to get off the bus at the same time. "HEY! ONE AT A TIME! What are you, animals!?"

"Finally." Eri said as she stretched and noticed that Harima was looking at her strangely, "What? Do I have something in my face?"

"N-no." Harima replied as he quickly got his papers, "Let's go get our stuff." Eri nodded and was about to get up when she noticed one of Harima's pages on the floor. Just as she reached for it, Harima snatched out of reach. "D-don't! I-i-its uhh...not ready."

"Huh? You didn't mind about the other pages." Eri replied.

"Its just that...its just that this page is something I'm not really sure about yet." Harima replied.

"Uhh...ok." Eri replied. Outside, students were running around and quickly grabbing their luggage so that they could get a room...at least until Itoko stepped in.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted and the students froze (of them all, three fell over from stopping mid run), "I forgot to mention that your room is chosen by luck. In this...is that a fish bowl? *sigh* whatever, in this bowl are the keys to the bed rooms that were set aside for you and the staff. One of each pair will come up here and randomly grab a key, that will be your room. Oh and most of the rooms are the same except that (as we've just been informed) one of those has a single king sized bed. Apparently they ran out of rooms with separate beds, but its got a great view."

'Oh god no!' Eri exclaimed in her thoughts, 'Please don't get us that room!'

"Next!" Itoko called out.

"So you guys hoping to get that room?" Mikoto asked.

"Yeah!" Tenma cheered, "A king sized bed means I can jump higher on it!"

"I'm hoping for it." Akira commented, "Because it's not a spring bed, its memory foam." Tenma's head and face fell.

"Awww." she whined.

"By the way, who'd you come with Akira?" Eri asked.

"No one, I'm alone so if I get that room I get all that space for myself." Akira replied, "Though you're welcome to come in anytime."

"Uhh...thanks?" Eri replied before Harima stepped up to the bowl with the keys and pulled one out.

"Huh...I got it." He commented.

'No way.' Eri thought, 'FFFFFUUUUU-'

"Well well well, what's your plan then?" Itoko asked.

"Plan?" Harima asked.

"Big king sized bed, your roommate being a cute girl, and the fact that you're a big guy and need a lot of that space." Itoko replied.

"Nice try," Harima replied as he turned to leave, "but I'm not going to share with her."

'What?' Itoko asked herself mentally, 'Is he planning on throwing onto the floor?'

"Hey Ojou, I got our room, you coming?" Harima asked as he picked up Eri's luggage.

"Uhh...yeah I'll...catch up in a minute..." Eri replied.

"Wow, he's good." Mikoto commented.

"What are you talking about?" Eri asked.

"Oh come on." Mikoto replied, "He got that room. I'm willing to bet that he's waiting till you two are alone."

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"We'll here we are." Harima commented as put down the luggage, "Huh...they even have a light dimmer." Eri took a seat on the bed before Harima began to play with the light switch.

"Ok Harima, I know its fun, but we don't want to get charged for breaking their light switch." Eri commented.

"You're right." Harima replied before leaving the lights dimmed, "I should be doing something more important that playing with the lights." he added before leaning Eri back onto the bed.

"H-harima?" Eri asked, "What are you doing?"

"What I should've done since I first saw you." Harima replied before he gently placed his lips on hers. Eri hesitated but soon gave in, enjoying the passion that Harima began to show. Soon they began to remove their clothes, slowly. Harima moved his lips to her shoulder as he slid the straps of Eri's bra off, moving back to her neck and making his way down as she gasped in pleasure.

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"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" Eri shouted, "What the hell Mikoto!? Where is that thought even coming from!?"

"Honestly?" Mikoto asked, "I just wanted to mess with you."

"I'll see you guys later." Eri sighed. She made her way over to the room she would be staying in, yet Mikoto's "joke scenario" was all she could think about as she made her way there. 'What if he does do that?' Eri thought to herself, 'Nah I doubt it...I wonder about what Akira said...about Yamuko...' Eri reached her destination and opened the door to see Harima looking out the window.

"Ito- er, Ms. Itoko wasn't lying about the view." Harima commented as he went over to her. Eri froze with surprise as Harima got closer, but relaxed when he stopped short to open a case next to the door.

'Whew, I thought he was headed for me.' Eri thought.

"Huh, hey the light switch dims!" Harima commented as he played with the switch.

'Urk...no, there's no way that's really what's going to happen.' Eri thought to herself as she sat at the bed before Harima turned to her, leaving the lights dimmed. She noticed him walking over to her and she froze, her heart began to beat faster and faster as he got closer and closer until he was right in front of her and he leaned in. "What are you doing!?" Eri asked with surprise.

"Just setting your suitcase with you." Harima replied as he turned and walked back to the light switch to brighten up the room, "Probably should leave that on full huh?"

"Y-yeah." Eri replied, "I-I'm going to go find the others.

"Alright, I'll be here if you need me." Harima replied as she walked out the door and nodded before she closed it.

''if you need me' he said.' Eri thought, 'He could've said, 'If anyone needs me'...maybe I'm over thinking it.' Making her way back to the entrance, she noticed something odd, "Huh...where is everyone?" Looking around, she noticed some of her classmates' luggage strewn about, as if dropped in a rush. A feint rumbling sound could also be heard in the distance, which seemed to be getting louder and louder.

"Eri!" a voice called from the front door. The ground began to rumble as Eri turned to see Mikoto at the doorway, running towards her, "Eri, we've got to go!"

"Mikoto?" Eri asked, "What's going on?"

"And avalanche!" Mikoto replied, "Let's go!" The ground was shaking by now, nearly knocking them down. Mikoto pulled Eri along as she made a dash for the door.

"Wait! What about Harima!?" Eri asked.

"There's no time!" Mikoto replied, "We need to go!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Ok, let's get started." Harima said to himself as he pulled out his manga pages, blank pages, ink, and fishbone pen, "Oh, they even have a desk in here...I'm done with the chapter and volume, I guess I'll start the next one." As he placed his work on the desk, one of the pages fell off which he quickly caught. Turning it over, he noticed it was the last page he worked on at the bus. The drawing was an image of Eri sleeping, drawn to the best of Harima's ability. He smiled as he placed the drawing on the desk, "Wonder if she'll like it." He sat down and was about to start working when the desk began to shake. "What the- ?"

"Harima!"

"Eri!?" Harima called out as he ran for the door and pried it open to see Eri being pulled by Mikoto, "What's going-!?" Before he could finish asking, the windows shattered and a huge pile of snow came in, burying the three of them it continued to fill the whole structure before losing momentum and finally stopping. Silence fell upon the lodge, nothing moved, and a section of the settled snow began to turn red. A hand punched through the snow before grabbing the surface and pulling the rest out. "Ugh...what the hell just happened?" Harima asked himself before looking around to see the door he was just at blocked by a load of snow, "That's not going to be easy to get through...Ojou! Can you hear me!?" Silence. Harima quickly began to dig into the snow in order to get through the door, "Ojou!?" Silence. He finally managed to open the door wide enough to fit through and made his way to the main entrance, "Eri, please! Give me a sign that you're alright!" The snow next to him became uneven and sank a bit, but it was also the patch that had been stained red.

Harima forced himself to carefully dig the area, softly pushing the snow aside before he found Mikoto, "Mikoto...Mikoto!" she didn't reply, and the reason for it was given to Harima as he looked down to see several glass shards imbedded deep into her gut. "Shit..." Harima growled as he lifted the body, only to reveal Eri right underneath Mikoto, "Eri!"

"Harima!?" Eri questioned, slightly dazed, "Why does my leg hurt?" Harima wouldn't dare to look down, he didn't want to, but for the sake of Eri's well being he did. In Eri's leg was a large piece of glass that was dig deep and would most likely be extremely painful if touched, "Fuck..."

"What is it?" Eri asked with worry, unable to tell what the pain was, but her fear began to make it worse.

"You...are going to have to brace yourself." Harima replied, "You have a large glass dug into your leg, and if I leave it there, you won't have much time." He quickly looked around for something to tie around the cut to keep her from bleeding out and came to a slightly undesirable option. "Sorry Mikoto," Harima sighed as he removed her jacket and ripped the sleeve of her sweater underneath, "but Eri needs this." He slid the cloth under Eri's leg then looked at her, "Ready?"

"N-noooo." Eri replied fearfully as she shook her head and began to cry. Harima too the moment of distraction and pulled the glass out, causing Eri to scream at the top of her lungs in pain. Harima quickly tied the sleeve around the cut and made to knot on it to keep pressure in the area so Eri wouldn't bleed out.

"Stop! No more!" Eri cried, "Please just leave it alone!"

"There, it's over Eri." Harima replied as he pulled her into his arms and she cried on his shoulder, "Its over..." At the corner of her eye, Eri managed to see Mikoto's still body through the blurriness of her tears.

"M-mikoto?" Eri called out before Harima softly turned her head away.

"Don't look..." he said as he looked around for a way out, "We need to get out of here."

"H-how?" Eri asked weakly.

'Shit, she still lost quite a bit of blood.' Harima thought, 'Luckily it wasn't too much, but she will feel sleepy...I need to keep her warm in case she does fall asleep...' Harima removed his jacket and placed it around Eri's shoulders.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked, nearly unconscious. Harima went over to Mikoto's body, took her jacket, and placed it over Eri before going back to move Mikoto out of sight. 'Alright, now what?' he thought to himself, 'We need to keep warm, but I doubt body heat is going to help...there's snow everywhere, but maybe I can find something to burn.

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'Where am I?' Eri thought to herself as she looked around in the dark, "Harima! You there!?" A light flickered on near her, but she was more surprised by what she now saw, "Is that...the bed from that play we did at the festival?" Eri tried to approach it, but was suddenly blocked by a familiar figure in a wizard's outfit and carrying a wooden staff, "Yakumo? What's goin-" Yakumo cut Eri off by hitting her with the staff.

"I won't let you pass." Yakumo commented.

"What!? What the hel-" Eri stopped as she noticed that in the bed lay Harima, sleeping. "Oookay, I get it. I'm dreaming and that's why Yakumo is attacking me. Look, just let me pass and I'm sure I'll wake up before I reach-" Yakumo cut her off once more as she hit Eri in the gut and caused her to fall to her knees and hunch over, 'That felt too real! Wait, that the goal of a dream right? To help you understand your feelings? ...or somewhere along those lines. So if I manage to kiss Harima, I'll wake up!'

"You shall not pass." Yakumo replied monotonely.

'Where have I heard that before?' Eri thought to herself as she regained her breath and looked up, only to see Yakumo's staff just before it hit her with great force.

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Eri jolted awake, breathing in the cold air around her as she surveyed her surroundings, but with limited range as she felt too weak to sit up. A couple of feet away was a campfire made of sticks, paper, and some cloth of unknown origin.

"A-are y-you ok-k?" a voice asked. Eri looked up to see that she was on Harima's lap.

"Yeah but- what the hell are you doing!?" Eri shouted as she realized that while she was warm under two jackets and her sweater, Harima was down to his shirt, presumably his underwear too, and his pants.

"What do you m-mean?" Harima asked, forcing himself to talk as normal as he could.

"You're going to freeze!" Eri snapped before her vision faltered.

"Don't use up the energy you have like that. You lost a lot of blood, but not enough to be fatal..." Harima replied, 'if we were in better conditions...' "Don't worry about me either, I've got the fire to keep us warm."

"How long was I out?" Eri asked.

"About a couple of hours." Harima replied, "I haven't been able to find a way out, but I heard some noises coming from outside."

"A search party?" Eri asked.

"Maybe, but the snow is really unstable now." Harima replied, "There's no way to alert them without causing it to cave on us and bury us alive. We'll have to wait for them to ease the weight so that it doesn't happen." For a moment, the only thing that could be heard was the crackling of the fire, which worried Harima because when he looked down he saw that Eri's eyes were closed.

"H-hey...how'd you...make the fire?" Eri asked.

Harima breathed a sigh of relief, "I found some sticks in the snow, but it surely wasn't going to hold, so I use my sweater and...well...let's just say our lives are more important that work." Eri's eyes tried to shoot open in surprise, but only made it halfway.

"You...used your...manuscript?" she asked.

"Yeah...but I kept two pages...one where I have the character hand out with his only friend," Harima replied, "and most important page I worked on while we were on the bus." Harima pulled out a page and showed it to Eri.

"H-harima..." Eri couldn't do much in her weakened state, but she managed to smile, "its beautiful."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Harima replied, "I was actually hoping...once we're rescued, if you want to go grab something to eat with me."

"...of course..." Eri replied weakly.

'Hurry up.' Harima thought, 'I don't know how much long she can hold on, get us OUT OF HERE!'

"I GOT IT!" a muffled voice shouted. Harima looked all around before the roof caved nearby and revealed the outside world, "Anyone here!?"

"Yes!" Harima replied.

"We got a live one!" the man replied to someone behind him, "Hang on, we're coming down!"

"Hurry!" Harima replied before turning back to Eri, "You hear that? We're going to get out Eri!"

"...H-harima...I...I'm cold..." Eri whispered weakly.

"No, hang in there!" Harima replied as he hugged her close and tried to warm her before the roof above them caved in and the last thing Eri managed to see was the fire being extinguished by the snow.

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A week had passed since the unexpected avalanche. Eri was sitting in her desk, waiting to go see him. The bell rang, she gathered her things and made her way out of the school not even stopping to say goodbye to Tenma or Akira. Eri walked for ten minutes to her destination, stopping only to pick up some flowers before arriving to the cemetery. Walking up to a tombstone and placing half the flowers on it.

"I'm sorry Mikoto...I should've moved faster." Eri commented before moving a few feet to another tombstone and falling to her knees, "That was a real dick move you know!" Eri sobbed as she took out the drawing of her that Harima made, "You ask me out and then..." Her tears fell on the page and Eri quickly tried to dry it without causing it to smudge, but a sudden gust made the page slip from her grasp, "No, no, no!" She quickly tossed herself after it, but failed to capture the page and fell helplessly on the ground, "No! Not that page!" she cried. Remaining on the ground the way she had landed, Eri could not summon the strength to look up, knowing she had lost the single most meaningful thing that was ever given to her.

"Here." a voice called out. Eri looked up to see Yakumo holding the page out to her, "You should be more careful with things that are important to you."

"Thanks Yakumo." Eri replied as she stood up, took the page, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to pay my respects to Mikoto and Harima." Yakumo replied as she eyed the page in Eri's hands, "He made that...didn't he?"

"...yeah..." Eri replied, placing the flowers on Harima's grave before she left. After walking a few feet, Eri took one last glance back at Harima's grave and saw Yakumo, on her knees and crying, 'Wait...the other page!' "Yakumo." Eri called out as she approached and pulled out another page, "I think this one was intended for you." Yakumo took the page and it showed Harima's character telling a joke to a character that looked like her. "He told me it was the characters best friend." Eri added.

"Thank you Eri." Yakumo replied. The both of them said their goodbyes to Harima and left the graveyard holding the pages to their hearts.


End file.
